Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s annual fundraising dinner for charity the Fifteen Foundation raised £225,000 last week.

The annual event, which took place at the London headquarters of information services provider Bloomberg, supports the Fifteen Foundation, which provides young people from underprivileged backgrounds with work in the restaurant industry.

Jamie Oliver told Bloomberg: “We're trying to build a training kitchen above Fifteen to help the local community, and we'd like to increase the number of apprentices each year to 45 from about 20 to 25.”

“We need a lot of dosh but it's not only about the money, and this is a chance for us to tell high-profile people what we're trying to do. We're helping kids from tough backgrounds and events like this help us to get to the next level.”

Guests at the dinner included Boyzone singer Ronan Keating as well as Oliver's parents Trevor and Sally Oliver.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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